Bill Tieleman is one of BC's best known communicators, political commentators and strategists.
Bill is a political panelist regularly on CBC Radio and TV in BC and with other media.
Bill has been Communications Director in the B.C. Premier's Office and at the BC Federation of Labour.
Bill owns West Star Communications, a consulting firm providing strategy and communication services for labour, business, non-profits and government.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Liberals and Labour - Which Leadership Candidate is the Most Pro-Labour? The Vote On Anti-Scab Tells A Tale

While much attention has been spent on which federal Liberal leadership candidate is most attractive to party delegates or to Canadian voters, what about workers?

Which of the eight Liberals who aspire to become prime minister would also be a leader for the labour movement. Who is the most likely to introduce progressive legislation to meet the needs of working people?

Tough question.

None of the candidates has been outspoken on labour issues or attracted significant union movement support.

And while the NDP is the traditional and often organizational choice of organized labour in Canada, the Liberals have moved to the left since being turfed from power.

As one labour insider told The Tyee: “In opposition, the Liberals are trying to out-NDP the NDP!”

Some observers might automatically assume Brother Bob Rae, the former New Democratic Party premier of Ontario, is the obvious pro-labour choice.

But they would be wrong.

Bob Rae is still widely despised in the Ontario labour movement, particularly but not exclusively, among public sector unionists who have never forgiven him for imposing umpaid days off in an attempt to reduce burgeoning deficits.

Rae was widely condemned by the Ontario labour movement at the time and those hard feelings persist.

The former NDP premier was also faulted by others in labour for reneging on his party’s promise to introduce public auto insurance, a feature of other social democratic provinces like B.C., Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

The Buzz on Bob

But, Rae does know the labour movement and none other than Buzz Hargrove, president of the Canadian Auto Workers, has reportedly picked him as the best choice for the Liberals.

But given that even Hargrove’s public embrace of Paul Martin in a CAW bomber jacket didn’t save the political hide of the former Liberal prime minister, don’t count on Rae enjoying overwhelming labour support.

Anti-Scab Counts

Talk is cheap. When the chips are down, what matters is who voted in favour of a labour priority – anti-scab legislation.

The answer is simple – and then not so simple.

An October 25, 2006 second reading vote on a private members bill – Bill C 257 – to introduce anti-scab or anti-replacement worker legislation was passed in the minority Parliament.

Among those members of all parties who voted in favour: Liberal leadership candidates Michael Ignatieff and Joe Volpe.

But fellow MPs and contenders Stephane Dion, Ken Dryden and Scott Brison did not vote on the motion.

[Gerard Kennedy, Bob Rae and Martha Hall Findlay don’t hold seats.]

And in an earlier vote on anti-scab legislation in April 2005, when the Paul Martin Liberals were in power, the entire cabinet voted against Bill 263, which was narrowly defeated by a count of 143 against versus 131 in favour.

Martin himself was absent for the vote but Dion, Dryden, Brison and Volpe all helped defeat anti-scab.

As the old saying about the Liberals goes, they govern from the right and run from the left.

Labour Supporters?

There is a shortage of prominent labour leaders or former leaders supporting any of the Liberal contenders.

Unsurprisingly, given that he has twice run unsuccessfully as a federal Liberal candidate, former IWA-Canada president Dave Haggard isn’t shy about boosting Bob Rae.

Other supporters with union ties include labour consultant and former Hospital Employees Union leader Jack Gerow, who has hosted an event for Rae, and Rob Mingay, a former press secretary to then-NDP leader Ed Broadbent.

But a quick glance through the endorsement pages of other Liberal leadership candidates doesn’t readily turn up any prominent labour officials throwing their support behind a potential PM.

So all in all, labour will likely wait and see who wins the convention vote on Saturday and then attempt to make inroads on policy issues it deems important.

Because unlike an NDP convention, most of the labour support you will find at this weekend’s Liberal gathering will come from the workers employed by the convention centre.

Bill Tieleman and Senator Larry Campbell, former Vancouver mayor

Jim Sinclair, Cindy Oliver, Ken Georgetti and Bill Tieleman

Bill Tieleman's coverage of the Basi-Virk/BC Legislature Raid Case praised by other journalists:

"This outstanding piece of journalism, in The Tyee, is the work of a journalist who has been deeply involved with this issue from the start and this article should be passed on as far and wide as possible."

"Bill Tieleman from 24 hours . . . . If you want to know about this trial and about this case, you have to read his blog – I mean, that’s just all there is to it – it’s required reading if you want to understand the BC Legislature Raid situation."

- Mike Smyth, columnist, The Province

"The Basi-Virk case....you’ve probably sat through more of these hearings and gone through more of the files and written about it than any other journalist in the province."

- Bill Good, host, The Bill Good Show, CKNW/Corus Radio Network

"Tieleman ...has done a first-rate job covering the trial."

- Paul Willcocks, columnist, the Victoria Times-Colonist

"Tieleman, who marries a considerable journalistic talent with one of the smartest political minds in the province, has been writing more web-exclusive material. And his coverage of the Basi-Virk trial is a must-read -- whether you're an insider or an outsider."

"24 Hours, the Vancouver paper that has been leading the coverage, as well as the hints of conspiracy in B.C."

- Norman Spector, columnist, Globe and Mail

"Although the major media in this circumstance has been giving the case significant coverage, Tieleman's reports on his blog have been outstanding.

The entire cut and thrust of legal wrangling and arguments has been covered and is accompanied by considered analysis.....His blog site coverage of the Basi-Virk trial is the most in depth treatment of one of British Columbia's biggest political scandals."

- Bill Bell, columnist, The North Shore News

"Mr. Tieleman has published online dispatches which, freed from the limitations of newsprint space or broadcast time, can run at length. They also remain available for those select readers who become obsessed with a case also known as Railgate.....

In another bizarre twist to a story with no shortage of them, Mr. Tieleman went to work one day in December only to discover his office had been ransacked. Bookcases had been tipped over and papers strewn, but nothing was missing.

To top it off, a press kit for the self-published novel The Raid, written by a retired military officer in Metchosin and featuring on its cover a photograph from the 2003 police raid, had been left in a conspicuous place."

- Tom Hawthorn, columnist, The Globe and Mail

Nobody has followed the Basi-Virk affair over its past five years with greater diligence than local journalist, Bill Tieleman....Tieleman deserves our thanks, a fistful of journalism awards and some merit citation for citizenship.